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ARTICLES ABOUT TOKYO BY DATE - PAGE 3

TOKYO (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that after long-running negotiations with Japan a bilateral free trade agreement was now "within our grasp. " "Things are going very well indeed," Abbott said in a speech at a luncheon with business leaders in Tokyo. Japanese media reported that Abe and Abbott will announce the basic bilateral agreement later in the day, featuring cuts to Tokyo's tariffs on Australian beef and Canberra ending its duty on cars.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A deadline for a court-mandated investigation into why bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox failed, and whether it should be revived under bankruptcy protection laws, has been extended to May 9, the company said in a brief statement on Friday. The Tokyo District Court had set a Friday deadline for Nobuaki Kobayashi, a partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, to report on his investigation into the collapse last month of what was once the world's largest bitcoin exchange. In seeking the extension, Kobayashi cited the involvement of investigatory agencies as well as the work required to confirm Mt. Gox's financial situation, according to a petition filed to the court.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp said on Thursday that it would book about a 5 billion yen ($48.9 million) profit in the next fiscal quarter on the sale of Tokyo property, its second disposal announced this month as it sheds assets under a turnaround plan. The gain will be posted as operating profit for the first quarter of the business year that begins on April 1, Sony said. Sony has been selling off assets and restructuring loss-making divisions, including its TV operations, as it tries to restore its struggling consumer electronics business to profitability.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Toyota Motor Corp climbed 1 percent to a two-week high of 5,675 yen on Thursday morning, outpacing the wider market, after it said on Wednesday it would buy back up to 1.89 percent of its shares for up to 360 billion yen ($3.52 billion). Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei was down 1.5 percent in early deals. Toyota shares were the most-traded on the main board. ($1 = 102.3100 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Dominic Lau; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Much like most of the songs performed by the band whose misadventures drive its wispy plot, " Big in Japan " comes off as pleasantly diverting, vaguely familiar and instantly disposable. Real-life Seattle rockers Phillip A. Peterson, David Drury and Sean Lowry, known collectively as Tennis Pro, play reasonable facsimiles of themselves in writer-director John Jeffcoat 's semi-fictionalized comedy, a freeform fiction loosely based on the group's true-life attempts to boost their careers by making a splash in Tokyo.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Display Inc , the world's largest maker of smartphone screens, slid 17 percent in its first day of trade - the second downbeat debut this week for a Tokyo stock market that has seen a marked drop in foreign investor participation. Japan Display's $3.3 billion stock offering, the country's biggest so far this year, had already met with a lukewarm reception from foreign investors concerned about signs of falling screen prices. The supplier of screens to Apple Inc ended up cutting the overseas portion of its offer to 37.5 percent from 45 percent.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two months before Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy it was sued by a customer seeking the return of funds in a case that highlights some of the red flags raised in the run-up to the collapse of what was once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange. New York resident Marko Simovic filed a civil action at the Tokyo District Court on December 24, seeking to recover $105,000 he had on deposit at Mt. Gox and about $14,000 in interest, court filings show. Simovic, who described himself as a software developer who previously managed the bitcoin operations for a hedge fund, said Mt. Gox dodged repeated requests to withdraw funds from his account, which as of July 1 was credited with $935,000 in cash.

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Japan and the United States start talks on how to respond to armed incidents that fall short of a full-scale attack on Japan, officials in Tokyo worry that their ally is reluctant to send China a strong message of deterrence. Military officials meet this week in Hawaii to review bilateral defense guidelines for the first time in 17 years. Tokyo hopes to zero in on specific perceived threats, notably China's claims to Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea, while Washington is emphasizing broader discussions, officials on both sides say. Washington takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China, but recognizes that Japan administers them and says they fall under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which obligates America to come to Japan's defense.

* Stocks stabilize after two days of sharp moves * Yen fades further after Putin dials down rhetoric * Focus shifts to ECB on Thursday, U.S. jobs on Friday * U.S. bonds steady after softer-than-expected data By David Gaffen and Richard Leong NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - World markets were calm on Wednesday after two days of wild swings, with the United States and Russia set to hold talks on easing East-West tension in Ukraine. An index of global equity markets clung to a slim 0.1 percent gain, currency and bond markets stabilized, and oil prices fell for a second day as the West stepped up efforts to persuade Moscow to withdraw its forces in Crimea and avert the risk of war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that military force would be used only as a last resort.

Tokyo: As part of its restructuring drive, Sony plans to sell its former HQ and surrounding buildings in Shinagawa, Tokyo according to local press reports. The sale is expected to raise $150 million. Completed in 1990, the former HQ, called the NS Building, is part of what was once the "Sony Village" -- a complex of Sony-owned buildings in the area. The nearly 1,000 employees working in the building in medical equipment and other businesses will be transferred to Sony's current Shinagawa HQ by June.